Flight School and Pilot Training Directory

Start Your Flight Training Now - Air Travel Set To Grow

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA.gov), U.S. domestic airlines fly roughly 750 million passengers per year as of 2009, but that number is expected to grow to one billion annually by the year 2015, a 33% increase in pilots and aircraft from today.

Plane & Pilot Magazine Report - No Better Time!

According to Marc C. Lee, Plane & Pilot Magazine (December 2009 Issue) "Hiring for professional pilots will increase, and there are several reasons. Remember that the 'age 65 rule' squeezed out some younger pilots from getting hired, but most of those older pilots won't stay until they're 65. In addition to a large pool of soon-to-retire pilots, global growth will increase pilot demand. Worldwide airline travel is predicted to grow about 7% yearly, with cargo operations growing by 4% to 6% per year. By 2020, Asia is projected to become the dominant air cargo market. The recent industry-wide transition away from 50-passenger regional jets (due to their inefficiency) means new airplanes and more pilots. Overall, according to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), worldwide air traffic is expected to triple in the next 25 to 30 years.

Paying For Flight Schools Gets Easier with New G.I. Bill

The updated post-911 Montgomery G.I. Bill took effect on August 1, 2009, opening a host of new options to both veterans and their immediate dependents for funding flight training at either universities or flight academies. The new bill provides varying amounts of aid for tuition, housing, and books based on the number of months served on active duty since September 11, 2001. For complete details and qualifications, check out www.gibill.va.gov (GI Bill info).

Are airline pilot jobs still growing?

According to the Air Transport Action Group (www.atag.org)"2.0 billion passengers rely every year on the world's airlines for business and vacation travel and over 29 million tonnes of high-value freight are carried by air. Growth of air transport largely depends on global and regional economic cycles. It is also heavily affected by acts of war or terrorism - for example the Gulf war of 1991 or the events of 11 September 2001. But the long-term demand trend is always positive and the figures for passengers and freight are likely to double again within the next 12 to 15 years according to demand."

Medium term flight training outlook still positive

According to FlightGlobal.com's David Learmount, "The gloomy current airline market may cast a long shadow over the training industry, but historic experience of market cycles combined with contemporary economic trends present a much more complex and - in the medium term - promising picture for the airlines and flight training organizations. The world's financial institutions will, in due course, sort out their self-created credit woes, the oil prices will find a level that the surviving airlines will learn to live with, the global economy will recover, and the human race will rediscover its irrepressible urge to travel. Meanwhile the training industry is being presented with new tools that will confer advantages not widely available now.

Alteon (Boeing's worldwide training organization) forecasts that, from 2007 to 2027, airlines will take delivery of 29,400 new aircraft to replace old fleet and cope with the growth in demand for air travel. This, says Sherry Carbary, Alteon's President, will require an average of 18,000 new pilots and 24,000 maintainers a year to be trained to replace those who retire and also to crew and service the increasing numbers of aircraft in the world fleet. Only by training at those annual rates will the industry be able to meet the estimated need over the next 20 years for a total of 360,000 new pilots and 480,000 new maintainers, Alteon calculates.